Seoul, Dec 4 A special counsel team of South Korea said on Thursday that it has additionally indicted former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of giving false testimony during former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo's insurrection trial.
Yoon, who is already standing trial on insurrection and other charges stemming from his failed imposition of martial law last December, is accused of giving the false impression that the Cabinet meeting he convened before declaring martial law was planned even before Han suggested it.
"We filed charges of perjury over the testimony given by former President Yoon during former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo's trial," assistant special counsel Park Ji-young said during a press briefing.
During Han's trial last month, Yoon was asked as a witness whether the then prime minister had proposed convening a Cabinet meeting to make the martial law declaration appear legitimate.
Yoon protested that the question was loaded and retorted, "Cabinet members are not dolls who came to create an outward appearance."
Special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team suspects Yoon initially had no plans to hold a Cabinet meeting but changed his mind after Han said it would give his martial law declaration more credibility, Yonhap news agency reported.
Separately, a special counsel team had demanded a 15-year prison term for former first lady Kim Keon Hee on charges of corruption and bribery.
Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team had made the request during the final hearing of Kim's trial at the Seoul Central District Court, after indicting her in August on charges of violating the Capital Market Act, the Political Funds Act and a law on the acceptance of bribes for mediation.
The wife of ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol is accused of conspiring with a former head of Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer in South Korea, as well as a close associate, to manipulate the company's stock price and make 810 million won (US$552,670) in illegal profits between 2010 and 2012.
For that charge, the special counsel team requested 11 years in prison, a fine of 2 billion won and a forfeit of some 811 million won.
Kim is also accused of receiving free opinion polls worth 270 million won together with her husband from a self-proclaimed power broker ahead of the presidential election in 2022 in exchange for securing the nomination of former People Power Party Rep. Kim Young-sun for a parliamentary by-election later that year.
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